Coyotes-Red Wings Preview

Associated Press

The Detroit Red Wings earned their first home win of the season over the Phoenix Coyotes. Now, they'll try to extend an impressive run with another.

The Red Wings go for their 11th straight win at Joe Louis Arena when they meet the Coyotes on Wednesday.

Detroit (34-14-6) is outscoring opponents 40-15 and converting 22 percent (9 of 41) of its power-play opportunities while thwarting 41 of 44 opponent chances during its 10-game home winning streak.

The Red Wings, who trail Nashville by three points in the Central Division, haven't won 11 in a row at home since closing out the 2002-03 season with 11 consecutive victories on home ice. Detroit is 19-3-3 overall at Joe Louis Arena this season.

The first of those 19 home victories was a 9-2 rout of Phoenix (25-27-2) on Oct. 11, when defenseman Mathieu Schneider recorded three goals and an assist and eight other Red Wings had multiple-point games. Detroit also beat the Coyotes 5-1 at Phoenix on Jan. 11.

On Monday, Pavel Datsyuk set up Henrik Zetterberg's game-winning goal on the power play to cap a third-period rally as the Wings beat the New York Rangers 4-3.

Detroit trailed by two goals entering the final period, but scored three unanswered to notch its fourth straight win overall.

"We haven't had a lot of come-from-behind wins this year," Schneider said. "It's huge for a team when you feel like you can win no matter what the deficit is."

Dominik Hasek gave up three goals on seven shots in the opening period, but tightened up the rest of the way.

"What happened? All I can say is it was the worst period for me this year," said Hasek, who is 8-1-0 with a 2.20 goals-against average in his last nine starts. "I feel like all three goals I should save.

"It actually was a 7 o'clock game. I thought it was starting at 7:30."

Hasek has certainly been ready for his recent matchups with the Coyotes, going 4-0-0 with a tie and a 1.38 GAA in his last five starts against them.

Phoenix got a strong performance Tuesday from netminder Curtis Joseph, who made 28 saves to backstop a 3-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets - his 50th career shutout.

The game was delayed 35 minutes because the Coyotes were stuck in traffic caused by a severe snow storm, leaving them a little sluggish early.

"We were just lucky that our goaltender ... kept the game nothing-nothing," said Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky, whose team has won just five of its last 12 games. "We scored the all-important first goal and went from there."

Steve Reinprecht got that first goal and Shane Doan and Mike Zigomanis followed with second-period tallies for the Coyotes, who opened their four-game road trip with their third win in the last four contests away from home.

The Coyotes have failed to scored a power-play goal in four straight games, going 0-for-15 during that stretch, and are 3-for-41 with the man advantage over their last nine contests.